The meeting continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943, with Gurdjieff saying "... you no longer have your associations. ... In a special state when you relax a little, you can remember this feeling and you must seize it." Later, Tracol, a student, says "The strongest feeling of division is when I do it under comfortable conditions". Mme de Salzmann responds, "It is necessary for this to grow in you in these moments. After, little by little, you shall be able to make this state last."
"R" asked what state is being referred to. D put it in the context of sport. Andy Murray had just lost a Wimbledon semi-final. In contrast in his previous match he could not put a foot wrong, he was "in the zone". D found it would sometimes feel like that at the pool table. He referred also to the dancer Nijinsky who thought he was God. T said that sometimes it is very hard to paint but at other times it flows.
The reading continued. Responding to a query from the student Kahn, Gurdjieff says "You cannot yet have a 'true love'. One aspect of 'true love' must be to hate justly, to hate objectively, not the object but its manifestations. ... cease saying the word 'true'. ... You cannot yet love, you can do nothing. You do not yet have the feeling and I have need of you having it."
L said that Gurdjieff may have put a stop to a romance with his comments. "R" said that love is usually limited but that people like drama, and that life without dramas is boring. D said that love among the young is often infatuation. L suggested that the term "falling in love" is pejorative and should perhaps be "ascending in love"; many artists have believed that love should not be controlled by mind, and he quoted John Lennon, "Love is old, love is new. Love is all, love is you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5qXVODCvC8&NR=1
M brought up Maurice Nicoll's interpretation of the cross, saying that the level of the horizontal bar signifies level of mind, and that if it reaches the top of the cross the symbol changes to the Egyptian tau cross. "R" added that ancient Egypt also had the ankh cross, where a loop, symbolising reincarnation, is above the horizontal bar.
The Meeting moved on to begin reading from Beelzebub's Tales, but it transpired that there were two different editions circulating in the room. It was decided to use the earliest edition available (the later one was not originally intended for publication), and begin again the following month.
There was a little time for those present to recount significant events from the month that had passed.
D had been concerned about his brother, with whom he had had no contact for six weeks. He sent his brother a text message urging him to get in touch. Half an hour later he met his brother in the street. The text message had not been received, as his brother had left his mobile phone at home. L suggested that the mind of D's brother, being a little disturbed, might have been more open.
T had realised that her recent habit of working late was in fact resistance to doing art, a self-sabotage to ensure she was too tired to start painting early. D asked her why she wanted to be tired, but admitted that he will do anything but write, his current excuse being that he needs to move house. L referred to the character Lord Foul in Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, as epitomising for him the force of resistance to creative art, this force being more powerful than psychology alone. He observed that no sooner was he about to write a note of music, after preparing to work, than the phone would ring. Another time, at the instant he is primed to start work, there might be a noisy disturbance outside.
M had been exhausted following a hospital visit, and had found it necessary to listen to his body and be sensible, not to do too much or walk too far. A diagnosis of his condition had caused him to become more awake.
R has been so busy she had had to resort to microwave cooking. Over the month to come she is determined spend more time on preparing her food.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Animals and Humans
At the beginning of the meeting there was a query as to what had been discussed the previous month. It was decided, as a trial, to start by reviewing the account of the previous meeting by going through the entry on the website. While this gave rise to much discussion, it used up a significant amount of time and it was decided in future to suggest that people read through the blog entry from the previous month and if they have any comments to bring them with to the meeting.
It was also decided to begin reading Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, being a seminal work of Gurdjieff. "R" thought Beelzebub's Tales alongside Views from the Real World, are the two books by Gurdjieff that are primary. M said that in his reading of the book, he had found Chapter 39, "The Holy Planet Purgatory", the most significant. (This chapter is the last one of the second book.) "R" recalled that her teacher had said that if you did not read anything else, you should read that section. It was decided to start methodically, the following month, at the beginning of the book. "R" said there are instructions at the start to read it three times, and suggested reading it as fluidly as possible, rather than focusing on discussion, though if things crop up they can be discusssed. It was suggested that the first chapter be read before the next meeting, three times, the first all the way through as if reading a newspaper, the second out loud to oneself, the third with the intention to think about the content.
The issue of Gurdjieff's terminology arose. "R" said that Gurdjieff chose to express himself in terms that the other would be familar with, thus to the scientist Ouspensky he used terms from science like "hydrogens".
The Meeting then continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943. A member of the group, Mechin, recounts how he has been seeing himself in a different light: "... one day in passing before a mirror, I was very surprised to see that I saw myself as a stranger." Gurdjieff responds: "... Your individuality is born. Before you were like an animal without 'I'. Now you have an 'I' and the properties of a man. This exercise has given you these. Before you had no individuality, you were the result of your body, like a dog, a cat or a camel. Now if you have horns, you can see them and be amazed at them.... You are a comrade of Mme Franc."
M said that here Gurdjieff was referring to one becoming a three-brained being - animals are two-brained and plants one-brained.
L said the implication was that Mme Franc's third brain was becoming more active. However could we be sure that animals could not be similarly self-reflective, without using verbal language as humans do - L cited the example of the vegetarian lion which resisted every encouragement to eat meat. http://www.vegetarismus.ch/vegepet/tyke.htm.
M referred to reports of hippopotamuses defending animals from attacking crocodiles. (E.g. see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoP0xSMYcY0.)
L had similarly heard tales of seals or dolphins protecting adrift boats, e.g. Dick van Dyke in 2010 (in this case porpoises) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/11/dick-van-dyke-porpoises-rescue.
Finally those present reviewed significant, related things which had happened during the month.
For M, this was reading through Volume 1 of Beelzebub's Tales.
R had been focusing on being aware of the body - sitting still in a kneeling chair, being in the body and sensing it.
It was also decided to begin reading Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, being a seminal work of Gurdjieff. "R" thought Beelzebub's Tales alongside Views from the Real World, are the two books by Gurdjieff that are primary. M said that in his reading of the book, he had found Chapter 39, "The Holy Planet Purgatory", the most significant. (This chapter is the last one of the second book.) "R" recalled that her teacher had said that if you did not read anything else, you should read that section. It was decided to start methodically, the following month, at the beginning of the book. "R" said there are instructions at the start to read it three times, and suggested reading it as fluidly as possible, rather than focusing on discussion, though if things crop up they can be discusssed. It was suggested that the first chapter be read before the next meeting, three times, the first all the way through as if reading a newspaper, the second out loud to oneself, the third with the intention to think about the content.
The issue of Gurdjieff's terminology arose. "R" said that Gurdjieff chose to express himself in terms that the other would be familar with, thus to the scientist Ouspensky he used terms from science like "hydrogens".
The Meeting then continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943. A member of the group, Mechin, recounts how he has been seeing himself in a different light: "... one day in passing before a mirror, I was very surprised to see that I saw myself as a stranger." Gurdjieff responds: "... Your individuality is born. Before you were like an animal without 'I'. Now you have an 'I' and the properties of a man. This exercise has given you these. Before you had no individuality, you were the result of your body, like a dog, a cat or a camel. Now if you have horns, you can see them and be amazed at them.... You are a comrade of Mme Franc."
M said that here Gurdjieff was referring to one becoming a three-brained being - animals are two-brained and plants one-brained.
L said the implication was that Mme Franc's third brain was becoming more active. However could we be sure that animals could not be similarly self-reflective, without using verbal language as humans do - L cited the example of the vegetarian lion which resisted every encouragement to eat meat. http://www.vegetarismus.ch/vegepet/tyke.htm.
M referred to reports of hippopotamuses defending animals from attacking crocodiles. (E.g. see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoP0xSMYcY0.)
L had similarly heard tales of seals or dolphins protecting adrift boats, e.g. Dick van Dyke in 2010 (in this case porpoises) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/11/dick-van-dyke-porpoises-rescue.
Finally those present reviewed significant, related things which had happened during the month.
For M, this was reading through Volume 1 of Beelzebub's Tales.
R had been focusing on being aware of the body - sitting still in a kneeling chair, being in the body and sensing it.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Division into two
At the beginning of the meeting, M raised comments from Ouspensky about the distinction between morality and conscience, suggesting that morality was culturally relative. L queried whether this idea actually originated from Gurdjieff, arguing that morality is based logically on values which can be held in any culture.
The meeting continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943. A questioner, Mme Franc, gives a progress report to Gurdjieff on the use of the exercises he had assigned to the group, and says "I did the two exercises that you had given me during the vacation, the exercise on the division into two and on the sensations of hot, cold, and tears. . . . For the division into two, I cannot say that I have succeeded in doing it, but the work has given me a center of gravity in my head. This has changed many things for me and has allowed me to de-identify myself a little from my body and I can see more clearly in my work. I know better what I am doing and how I must do it. This has changed values." Gurdjieff responds "I already understood that you had a personality. Now you feel in yourself something, a separation. The body is one thing and you are another thing."
M said the "division into two" refers to self observation.
T commented on Gurdjieff's response to the woman's description of de-identifying with her body and feeling her centre of gravity in her head. He was optimistic that the woman had started to feel a separation inside her - her body is one thing she is another thing. He was very positive about this small shift in perception of herself and spoke about needing to nurture this change as if it was a young boy needing good nutrition. T thought that it sounded as significant as a new birth and the baby needed good nourishment from the woman continuing to work in this way on her perception of herself, to enable the baby's life to be sustained and to thrive and to grow.
D recalled techniques from Bioenergetics for pain relief. For example, to think again and again of a colour and shape representing the pain, during which process the pain ebbs.
M had used the technique of imagining what a pain looks like, and that it be put on a passing bus, which is then watched till it goes out of sight - in his experience this has helped a pain go away.
D quoted Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis: "I am not my body".
(In contrast, a tenet of Bioenergetics is that a person is their body.)
M said one can think of any part of the body and put attention on it - the blood will begin to go there. The mind controls the body.
D commented that burn out can lead to ME. As this is an example of the body controlling the mind, L queried if what Gurdjieff says is correct - are we a mind with a body attached or a body with a mind attached?
D commented at length about the first reading's content and D and M had a lengthy exchange, about living in the head and or living in the body and which is in charge. M thought it necessary for the mind to be in charge and D spoke up for the body because the mind becomes too caught up with intellect and imagination and there is a risk of cut off, alienation and breakdown. D spoke about how he had to bring himself back into his body because he had become too detached from it. He gave the example of Jack Kerouac being a brilliant writer but dying from alcohol abuse at 47 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac)
Continuing the reading, Mechin says "I tried to continue the exercise of division into two and, seeing that I could not succeed in it, I thought that this came about because the 'I' in me was not strong enough. . . . as during the vacation I was rather alone in the role that I had to play, I had to play it with my parents and above all my mother, there is where the difficulty arrived. I ascertained that I was completely incapable of playing a role, that it was impossible."
M noted that Mechin is talking about family problems, which particularly requre self-awareness.
D asked if this individuality is that of Jean-Paul Sartre's thinking, referring to his writing about the tree with roots in Nausea. If you are an individual, how do you create your reality?
L said that from Sartre's existentialist position, one can make art as extension of oneself, in this sense extending reality. An artist also has to observe very closely, for example an painter needs to be aware that the sky is not necessarily blue.
D thought it would be good to be at peace in the face of death.
L quoted the other view, from Dylan Thomas: "Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
D recalled another poem by Dylan Thomas, "And death shall have no dominion".
Concluding the meeting, each participant gave an example of relevant experience from the previous month:
Last week D went to Books Etc in the O2 Centre, and picked out a book on The Secret; love and gratitude can heal - are these the same as self awareness? He left the bookshop with these feelings in his consciousness, and found people were more friendly to him, that there had been a change. M replied that self-remembering is a different thing, but they are linked.
L had been on route to a performance of a piece of his whose subtitle included elephants and water. On emerging from the railway station at the destination, he was confronted with a poster for a new movie called "Water from Elephants". How should one respond to such synchronicities and do they reflect any changes in consciousness? D said this had just reminded him of the Welsh composer Paul Mealor who by chance had just had his piece performed at the royal wedding, but there were dangers in seeing too much in coincidences. He recalled a friend who thought a bird flying across the windscreen of a car had some meaning. L mentioned that the word auspicious derives from the ancient and common practice of divination from a study of the behaviour of birds.
M had realised during the week that he wasn't really interested in various things that he thought he had been interested in - this followed from self-awareness exercises.
T had had difficulty, during the month, in maintaining her practice of yoga, such good habits can slip away. D suggested it might help to do hatha yoga in a group. In fact being alone too much is not good, being used in some cases as a punishment (solitary confinement). L mentioned that some hermits and monks deliberately seek out isolation in caves or on mountain tops. D had heard from a monk that some of these are crazy. L cited Leonard Cohen who retreated to a zen monastery for several years. D quoted Jack Kerouac as saying that his experience alone fire watching had turned him to drink. M asked if Jack Kerouac had a purpose. D said that for Leonard Cohen it was burnout, and likewise for Kerouac.
The meeting continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943. A questioner, Mme Franc, gives a progress report to Gurdjieff on the use of the exercises he had assigned to the group, and says "I did the two exercises that you had given me during the vacation, the exercise on the division into two and on the sensations of hot, cold, and tears. . . . For the division into two, I cannot say that I have succeeded in doing it, but the work has given me a center of gravity in my head. This has changed many things for me and has allowed me to de-identify myself a little from my body and I can see more clearly in my work. I know better what I am doing and how I must do it. This has changed values." Gurdjieff responds "I already understood that you had a personality. Now you feel in yourself something, a separation. The body is one thing and you are another thing."
M said the "division into two" refers to self observation.
T commented on Gurdjieff's response to the woman's description of de-identifying with her body and feeling her centre of gravity in her head. He was optimistic that the woman had started to feel a separation inside her - her body is one thing she is another thing. He was very positive about this small shift in perception of herself and spoke about needing to nurture this change as if it was a young boy needing good nutrition. T thought that it sounded as significant as a new birth and the baby needed good nourishment from the woman continuing to work in this way on her perception of herself, to enable the baby's life to be sustained and to thrive and to grow.
D recalled techniques from Bioenergetics for pain relief. For example, to think again and again of a colour and shape representing the pain, during which process the pain ebbs.
M had used the technique of imagining what a pain looks like, and that it be put on a passing bus, which is then watched till it goes out of sight - in his experience this has helped a pain go away.
D quoted Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis: "I am not my body".
(In contrast, a tenet of Bioenergetics is that a person is their body.)
M said one can think of any part of the body and put attention on it - the blood will begin to go there. The mind controls the body.
D commented that burn out can lead to ME. As this is an example of the body controlling the mind, L queried if what Gurdjieff says is correct - are we a mind with a body attached or a body with a mind attached?
D commented at length about the first reading's content and D and M had a lengthy exchange, about living in the head and or living in the body and which is in charge. M thought it necessary for the mind to be in charge and D spoke up for the body because the mind becomes too caught up with intellect and imagination and there is a risk of cut off, alienation and breakdown. D spoke about how he had to bring himself back into his body because he had become too detached from it. He gave the example of Jack Kerouac being a brilliant writer but dying from alcohol abuse at 47 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac)
Continuing the reading, Mechin says "I tried to continue the exercise of division into two and, seeing that I could not succeed in it, I thought that this came about because the 'I' in me was not strong enough. . . . as during the vacation I was rather alone in the role that I had to play, I had to play it with my parents and above all my mother, there is where the difficulty arrived. I ascertained that I was completely incapable of playing a role, that it was impossible."
M noted that Mechin is talking about family problems, which particularly requre self-awareness.
D asked if this individuality is that of Jean-Paul Sartre's thinking, referring to his writing about the tree with roots in Nausea. If you are an individual, how do you create your reality?
L said that from Sartre's existentialist position, one can make art as extension of oneself, in this sense extending reality. An artist also has to observe very closely, for example an painter needs to be aware that the sky is not necessarily blue.
D thought it would be good to be at peace in the face of death.
L quoted the other view, from Dylan Thomas: "Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
D recalled another poem by Dylan Thomas, "And death shall have no dominion".
Concluding the meeting, each participant gave an example of relevant experience from the previous month:
Last week D went to Books Etc in the O2 Centre, and picked out a book on The Secret; love and gratitude can heal - are these the same as self awareness? He left the bookshop with these feelings in his consciousness, and found people were more friendly to him, that there had been a change. M replied that self-remembering is a different thing, but they are linked.
L had been on route to a performance of a piece of his whose subtitle included elephants and water. On emerging from the railway station at the destination, he was confronted with a poster for a new movie called "Water from Elephants". How should one respond to such synchronicities and do they reflect any changes in consciousness? D said this had just reminded him of the Welsh composer Paul Mealor who by chance had just had his piece performed at the royal wedding, but there were dangers in seeing too much in coincidences. He recalled a friend who thought a bird flying across the windscreen of a car had some meaning. L mentioned that the word auspicious derives from the ancient and common practice of divination from a study of the behaviour of birds.
M had realised during the week that he wasn't really interested in various things that he thought he had been interested in - this followed from self-awareness exercises.
T had had difficulty, during the month, in maintaining her practice of yoga, such good habits can slip away. D suggested it might help to do hatha yoga in a group. In fact being alone too much is not good, being used in some cases as a punishment (solitary confinement). L mentioned that some hermits and monks deliberately seek out isolation in caves or on mountain tops. D had heard from a monk that some of these are crazy. L cited Leonard Cohen who retreated to a zen monastery for several years. D quoted Jack Kerouac as saying that his experience alone fire watching had turned him to drink. M asked if Jack Kerouac had a purpose. D said that for Leonard Cohen it was burnout, and likewise for Kerouac.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Associations and Distractions
The meeting continued reading the second lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 22 July, 1943. A questionner, Ansi, said, in bewilderment " . . . if something wounds me, instead of being angry or offended, I am indifferent.". Gurdjieff responded: "Before, you had your own love. It is cheap, it is an ordinary thing; now you have understood it. You see that it is idiotic, a nullity, an excrement; before, you did not know it. Today you see it; you are not angry. You see the manifestations of excrement. If it is like this, I am very content. Without wanting it, without knowing it, you have already advanced objectively, mechanically advanced. Soon, you can be our estimable comrade."
L suggested here that Gurdjieff was referring to the destruction of ego, as those with a sense of self-importance are more vulnerable to criticism. Also a mind adrift in associative thought is rather like one who dreams.
M suggested the notion that while people sleep and dream, their thoughts are harvested.
L asked what Gurdjieff meant by it being important to have an aim, saying that not having one is similar to having an unfocused mind and being influenced by associative thoughts.
"R" gave the example of a soldier, who through the influence of others might find himself on foreign soil fighting in an unexpected war.
L remarked how even in an advanced country like the UK, almost at the drop of a hat, the government can become involved in a war.
T said that the phenomenon of the successful military operation is an example of an outward manifestation of the successful internal organisation of the individual, the body-mind system. In the successful military operaton the generals direct proceedings and the soldiers carry out the instructions. In the individual, if you have a clear aim, your body-mind can carry out the task set it. The operations are unsuccessful for the military or the individual if the aims are unclear or confusing or if there is dissent in the ranks.
"R" considered the possibility that in some people there may be an inbuilt destiny which may or may not be followed, and mentioned a comment by Ouspensky in The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution that there is only a limited amount of information. It was the first book on the Work she read, and on reading that passage she thought that if the amount was indeed limited, she wanted some of that information.
L mentioned the belief in the "original instructions" of native American cultures, that everything is made with a preordained path to follow.
Discussion continued on the challenge of remaining focused. M said he has found that when he is experiencing negative thoughts he tends to substitute positive thoughts and finds this helpful as the negative thoughts are pushed from their prominent position in his mind. He said the part of the mind doing this is what Gurdjieff referred to as the "silent witness".
Reading on, Gurjieff described the flow of background thoughts as like the circulation of blood in that it is an automatic process which should not distract from an aim.
M said that he has a project to clear fifty files and so far has worked through one.
L said it important to work from a list, but that the size of the list should be limited. One way to do this is to date every task that goes on the list, and to remove every day those that have been there for more than a month.
T gave the example of life drawing. The mark making of an observational drawing is the response to the reality of the experience of seeing the human being in front of the artist. This experience informs the lines and shading. If someone looks and then spends a long time drawing, looking at the paper, one wonders what the artist is drawing. The inpact of the real life experience to the drawing reduces the longer the pause between the looking and the drawing. The mind begins to add marks it thinks should be there to express the phenomena of the model but by this time the mind is filling in with the stuff of assumptions as to what the eye is seeing. The practice is to discipline the eye to be looking more than drawing.
Continuing the reading, Gurdjieff expands on the subject, saying "Under all conditions, in all political situations, man must educate his body to be submissive to him . . . You understand what is meant by intelligent? Intelligent means he who directs his body. If the body directs , you are a nullity, a peasant - if you direct your body you are intelligent. Thus, choose what you want. Intelligent or peasant? . . . The more you want to direct your body, the more it opposes you. And in resisting you, the more strength it gives you."
L thought that an alternative view was that the mind and body form a unit, and organism. Thus if a part of the body aches, rather that ignore it, it is information leading to a habitual posture which is the result of thoughts. Changing the thoughts might help solve the pain, but ignoring the pain might lead to a problem becoming worse.
Concluding the meeting, each participant gave an example of relevant experience from the previous month:
T made a choice en route to work one morning, at the fork in the road: to arrive early or to go via the sweet shop to satisfy hunger for something sweet inside. The latter choice won, and she arrived at work late. She observed that there was a process of diversion from the intention coming from another source of feeling sorry for herself and wanting a treat, a reward; she saw there was choice and made the choice and experienced the real consequences of that choice. She chose the route to the chocolate croissant! The reality of the sweet croissant was that it was tough and dry and she threw it into the park for the birds!
M spoke of waking and getting up at the same time following intention and will rather than instinctive desire to stay in the warm and comfortable bed; seeing the two routes and taking the "getting up" route and feeling good about this. He now has developed this habit and is consciously aware that it is a choice each time.
R is visiting her mother in the nursing home and read her a lecture in German from a professor in her mother's subject. She had spoken to one of her teachers who had recommended being aware of a part of the body while doing a habitual task. She found that reading to her mother a text in German, an unfamiliar but phonetic language, enabled her to be present in her body - the foreign-ness helped her as she was unable to get involved in the content of the paper. She read for two periods of 2 hours and her mother's response was a genuine "very interesting".
L has been getting up very early to do writing, but is sometimes getting distracted by other things before sitting down to this daily task.
L suggested here that Gurdjieff was referring to the destruction of ego, as those with a sense of self-importance are more vulnerable to criticism. Also a mind adrift in associative thought is rather like one who dreams.
M suggested the notion that while people sleep and dream, their thoughts are harvested.
L asked what Gurdjieff meant by it being important to have an aim, saying that not having one is similar to having an unfocused mind and being influenced by associative thoughts.
"R" gave the example of a soldier, who through the influence of others might find himself on foreign soil fighting in an unexpected war.
L remarked how even in an advanced country like the UK, almost at the drop of a hat, the government can become involved in a war.
T said that the phenomenon of the successful military operation is an example of an outward manifestation of the successful internal organisation of the individual, the body-mind system. In the successful military operaton the generals direct proceedings and the soldiers carry out the instructions. In the individual, if you have a clear aim, your body-mind can carry out the task set it. The operations are unsuccessful for the military or the individual if the aims are unclear or confusing or if there is dissent in the ranks.
"R" considered the possibility that in some people there may be an inbuilt destiny which may or may not be followed, and mentioned a comment by Ouspensky in The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution that there is only a limited amount of information. It was the first book on the Work she read, and on reading that passage she thought that if the amount was indeed limited, she wanted some of that information.
L mentioned the belief in the "original instructions" of native American cultures, that everything is made with a preordained path to follow.
Discussion continued on the challenge of remaining focused. M said he has found that when he is experiencing negative thoughts he tends to substitute positive thoughts and finds this helpful as the negative thoughts are pushed from their prominent position in his mind. He said the part of the mind doing this is what Gurdjieff referred to as the "silent witness".
Reading on, Gurjieff described the flow of background thoughts as like the circulation of blood in that it is an automatic process which should not distract from an aim.
M said that he has a project to clear fifty files and so far has worked through one.
L said it important to work from a list, but that the size of the list should be limited. One way to do this is to date every task that goes on the list, and to remove every day those that have been there for more than a month.
T gave the example of life drawing. The mark making of an observational drawing is the response to the reality of the experience of seeing the human being in front of the artist. This experience informs the lines and shading. If someone looks and then spends a long time drawing, looking at the paper, one wonders what the artist is drawing. The inpact of the real life experience to the drawing reduces the longer the pause between the looking and the drawing. The mind begins to add marks it thinks should be there to express the phenomena of the model but by this time the mind is filling in with the stuff of assumptions as to what the eye is seeing. The practice is to discipline the eye to be looking more than drawing.
Continuing the reading, Gurdjieff expands on the subject, saying "Under all conditions, in all political situations, man must educate his body to be submissive to him . . . You understand what is meant by intelligent? Intelligent means he who directs his body. If the body directs , you are a nullity, a peasant - if you direct your body you are intelligent. Thus, choose what you want. Intelligent or peasant? . . . The more you want to direct your body, the more it opposes you. And in resisting you, the more strength it gives you."
L thought that an alternative view was that the mind and body form a unit, and organism. Thus if a part of the body aches, rather that ignore it, it is information leading to a habitual posture which is the result of thoughts. Changing the thoughts might help solve the pain, but ignoring the pain might lead to a problem becoming worse.
Concluding the meeting, each participant gave an example of relevant experience from the previous month:
T made a choice en route to work one morning, at the fork in the road: to arrive early or to go via the sweet shop to satisfy hunger for something sweet inside. The latter choice won, and she arrived at work late. She observed that there was a process of diversion from the intention coming from another source of feeling sorry for herself and wanting a treat, a reward; she saw there was choice and made the choice and experienced the real consequences of that choice. She chose the route to the chocolate croissant! The reality of the sweet croissant was that it was tough and dry and she threw it into the park for the birds!
M spoke of waking and getting up at the same time following intention and will rather than instinctive desire to stay in the warm and comfortable bed; seeing the two routes and taking the "getting up" route and feeling good about this. He now has developed this habit and is consciously aware that it is a choice each time.
R is visiting her mother in the nursing home and read her a lecture in German from a professor in her mother's subject. She had spoken to one of her teachers who had recommended being aware of a part of the body while doing a habitual task. She found that reading to her mother a text in German, an unfamiliar but phonetic language, enabled her to be present in her body - the foreign-ness helped her as she was unable to get involved in the content of the paper. She read for two periods of 2 hours and her mother's response was a genuine "very interesting".
L has been getting up very early to do writing, but is sometimes getting distracted by other things before sitting down to this daily task.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Distraction, effort and emotion.
The meeting started with a reading from the second lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 22 July, 1943, in which a questioner, Simone, laments the loss of the restlessness which had mostly passed since she began the Work. Gurdjieff responded: "... you have the taste for real work. You must realize it in your ordinary life. I am - always: I-am. Never forget. Little by little your 'I' shall make a contact with your essence. It is necessary to repeat it many times."
L observed that G appeared to be advocating the use of restlessness rather than seeking to quell it as does Buddhism.
M quoted a phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ... love under will". An internet search established this was by Alastair Crowley.
Further in the reading, a questioner asks: "I was exhausted by my negative emotions even organically. Today, I have never felt so well, so animated." Gurdjieff responds: "Never have you had, previously, any liquid silver. You must feel that you have today some liquid silver."
D asked "what is liquid silver?" "R" thought that liquid silver might be a metaphor from Alchemy rather than a reference to the popular remedy of the time. L found that silver was symbolic of Artemis or Diana, the huntress of mythology, an allusion to wild nature. "R" commented on the association of Liquid and Silver with money as energy.
Later Gurdjieff states: " . . . man is not a pig, he cannot burst when he eats. The pig has a normal stomach; it cannot eat more than its stomach permits; it would burst; man is a scoundrel; he has a stomach of india-rubber. He is worse than the pig; he gulps down, he gulps down without ever bursting." There was some discussion of what this means.
D recounted a legend of a the self-discipline of a Zen master (from www.spiritual-short-stories.com):
During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master. Curious about this old fellow, the general went to the temple to see for himself what kind of man this master was.
When he wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was accustomed, the general burst into anger. "You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!" But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved.
"And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"
At the end of the meeting each person commented on one example from their experience since the last meeting which may relate to the texts read.
D gave an example of his experience of reading an Ivan Turgenev novel and the content triggering a memory of a disturbing experience with a colleague that D still felt was unresolved. This association became the focus of D's attention and he described feeling the disturbance all over again instead of being able to read the book he wished to read. He became aware of this distraction at the time and struggled to guide himself back to this task.
L said that while experiencing symptoms of a cold, he paid attention to his body considering it as a separate intelligent entity, asking what its state was, and that this led to a reduction of symptoms.
T gave an example of restlessness and agitation after a day at work and then being in the stimulating environment of a busy bus in rush hour. What to do for the duration? In the past she has read the paper and become more restless and agitated by the content of the paper. This time she made a deliberate attempt to shut down attention to the external stimuli by closing her eyes and staying still and meditating for half an hour.After so doing, she did feel a change of state away from restlessness to a more focused state and felt more energised.
"R" spoke of a change of circumstance for her mother, who is agitated about her own suffering and her loss of capacity to be independent. It is on-going work to be with her and attentive to her resistance to her situation.
M said that he had been experiencing negative emotions and through becoming aware of them and attending to them he moved himself away from the negative to more positive thoughts.
L observed that G appeared to be advocating the use of restlessness rather than seeking to quell it as does Buddhism.
M quoted a phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ... love under will". An internet search established this was by Alastair Crowley.
Further in the reading, a questioner asks: "I was exhausted by my negative emotions even organically. Today, I have never felt so well, so animated." Gurdjieff responds: "Never have you had, previously, any liquid silver. You must feel that you have today some liquid silver."
D asked "what is liquid silver?" "R" thought that liquid silver might be a metaphor from Alchemy rather than a reference to the popular remedy of the time. L found that silver was symbolic of Artemis or Diana, the huntress of mythology, an allusion to wild nature. "R" commented on the association of Liquid and Silver with money as energy.
Later Gurdjieff states: " . . . man is not a pig, he cannot burst when he eats. The pig has a normal stomach; it cannot eat more than its stomach permits; it would burst; man is a scoundrel; he has a stomach of india-rubber. He is worse than the pig; he gulps down, he gulps down without ever bursting." There was some discussion of what this means.
D recounted a legend of a the self-discipline of a Zen master (from www.spiritual-short-stories.com):
During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master. Curious about this old fellow, the general went to the temple to see for himself what kind of man this master was.
When he wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was accustomed, the general burst into anger. "You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!" But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved.
"And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"
At the end of the meeting each person commented on one example from their experience since the last meeting which may relate to the texts read.
D gave an example of his experience of reading an Ivan Turgenev novel and the content triggering a memory of a disturbing experience with a colleague that D still felt was unresolved. This association became the focus of D's attention and he described feeling the disturbance all over again instead of being able to read the book he wished to read. He became aware of this distraction at the time and struggled to guide himself back to this task.
L said that while experiencing symptoms of a cold, he paid attention to his body considering it as a separate intelligent entity, asking what its state was, and that this led to a reduction of symptoms.
T gave an example of restlessness and agitation after a day at work and then being in the stimulating environment of a busy bus in rush hour. What to do for the duration? In the past she has read the paper and become more restless and agitated by the content of the paper. This time she made a deliberate attempt to shut down attention to the external stimuli by closing her eyes and staying still and meditating for half an hour.After so doing, she did feel a change of state away from restlessness to a more focused state and felt more energised.
"R" spoke of a change of circumstance for her mother, who is agitated about her own suffering and her loss of capacity to be independent. It is on-going work to be with her and attentive to her resistance to her situation.
M said that he had been experiencing negative emotions and through becoming aware of them and attending to them he moved himself away from the negative to more positive thoughts.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sacrificing suffering
The meeting started with a reading from the first lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 8 April, 1943, in which the second question addressed to Gurdjieff was how to understand the words "sacrifice thy suffering". Drawing on an earlier talk, Gurdjieff replied: "Sacrifice your suffering for your neighbor, your voluntary suffering, not for yourself, but for others. (This rule used to form part of the oath pronounced formerly by doctors when they were astrologers and a long time ago when they had to promise to sacrifice their sleep, their fatigue, their suffering, for others.)"
He then went on to talk of three excrements of which the third is "formed in the head; it is rubbish of the food impressions, and the wastes accumulate in the brain. (The physician ignores it, just as he ignores the important role of the appendix in digestion, and rejects it as wastes.)"
A discussion followed the reading. "R" said that by the "third excrement", Gurdjieff was referring to more than a wandering mind - it can elaborated through looking at diagrams in the literature of the Work.
Moving from the reference to digestion, the issue of vegetarianism was addressed. R said that his teacher, the Swami, and Khalil Gibran, said there was no spiritual need to be a vegetarian. However R said he would be unable to eat a dolphin, as dolphins were very intelligent. L asked where one would draw the line between animals one could and could not eat, and suggested it was cultural. None present would want to eat a cat, although they are eaten in other parts of the world.
Following on the plan outlined in the December meeting, the participants, in turn, presented relevant experiences from the previous month. T spoke of how life drawing helps focusing, and is very humbling. L mentioned how ego undermines art and its administration.
He then went on to talk of three excrements of which the third is "formed in the head; it is rubbish of the food impressions, and the wastes accumulate in the brain. (The physician ignores it, just as he ignores the important role of the appendix in digestion, and rejects it as wastes.)"
A discussion followed the reading. "R" said that by the "third excrement", Gurdjieff was referring to more than a wandering mind - it can elaborated through looking at diagrams in the literature of the Work.
Moving from the reference to digestion, the issue of vegetarianism was addressed. R said that his teacher, the Swami, and Khalil Gibran, said there was no spiritual need to be a vegetarian. However R said he would be unable to eat a dolphin, as dolphins were very intelligent. L asked where one would draw the line between animals one could and could not eat, and suggested it was cultural. None present would want to eat a cat, although they are eaten in other parts of the world.
Following on the plan outlined in the December meeting, the participants, in turn, presented relevant experiences from the previous month. T spoke of how life drawing helps focusing, and is very humbling. L mentioned how ego undermines art and its administration.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Attention and Coincidence
The meeting started with a reading from the lecture of December 9, 1930 in New York, as transcribed in Views from the Real World, on the subject of Attention, in which Gurdjieff says: "There is no attention in people. You must aim to acquire this. Self-observation is only possible after acquiring attention. Start on small things." He goes on to to suggest trying, at first, to stop "nervous and restless movements . . . With these restless movements you cannot be anything. The first thing for you to do is to stop these movements. Make this your aim, your God. Even get your family to help you. Only after this, you can perhaps gain attention. This is an example of doing."
(Read more on this from the book itself, which is available from Amazon.)
A discussion followed, on the role of coincidence in life, and M explained how he thought a set of coincidences that led to him moving to Africa earlier in life were due to the sensitivity he had acquired through sustained work on himself.
(Read more on this from the book itself, which is available from Amazon.)
A discussion followed, on the role of coincidence in life, and M explained how he thought a set of coincidences that led to him moving to Africa earlier in life were due to the sensitivity he had acquired through sustained work on himself.
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